Expand: Take the Red Ribbon campaign online and utilize social media

Red Ribbon Week, which officially began yesterday and runs through Oct. 28, is about committing to live drug-free lives and prevent substance abuse.

It began in 1985 to honor the memory of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, an agent in the Drug Enforcement Administration who was killed while working undercover, investigating a Mexican drug cartel.

In Guam, organizers find the week too short to accomplish their goals of reaching out to the island's students and raising awareness, so October becomes Red Ribbon Month. It's filled with outreach efforts and other events and activities to educate the public about the dangers of substance abuse and encourage children to stay away from tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

While the island's participation started out small, with just a few agencies, it has steadily grown to include dozens of local and federal agencies and service providers, as well as nonprofit groups, the private sector and other members of the community. Their efforts go a long way toward keeping Guam's children on the straight and narrow, and we commend all of them for their hard work and commitment to the cause.

But more can be done to improve efforts to prevent substance abuse and keep our youths drug-free, and we hope to see the local efforts expand in the near future.

The primary way to do this is to incorporate other ways to reach out to the island's children and young men and women, and the best way to do that is to spread the message to where it's most likely to reach them -- on the Internet and, more specifically, via social media outlets.

The youths of today are very tech-savvy and spend a lot of time on the Internet and social media. Smart phones, tablets, laptops and computers are innate parts of their daily lives. It's where they watch their favorite movies, shows and music videos, find music, play games and even do their research for papers and school projects.

It would make a lot of sense to establish a local Red Ribbon Facebook page, Google+, Twitter feed and other such social media platforms, to reach out to youths in the places where so many of them utilize on a highly regular basis.